Is there any way to speed this up??

[MeadowHay]

I woke up around 4am with mild period-type cramps - I'm just about 40 weeks. This is my first baby so I was like "oh, perhaps things are sort of starting up" and tried to get back to sleep, but couldn't, mostly because I was anxious and excited I think rather than it being too painful. By 5am it was slightly more painful and I started discerning contraction patterns. By 6.30am it was properly painful (although not severely) and they were coming roughly every 5 minutes or so but sometimes less or more often and lasted roughly 60 seconds but sometimes a bit less. Had breakfast, had a shower etc, made sure everything was packed and called the MLU for advice expecting to be asked to come in, but was instead told to stay at home until I had entirely regular contractions that were no less than 4 minutes apart and no shorter than 60 seconds. Fair enough.

I had a routine MW appointment booked for 11am so went to that, contractions getting more painful but if anything the intervals were getting bigger so it was only around every 10 mins or so by that point. MW said I was 2cm dilated, 1cm effaced, and did a sweep, but warned me I could be in the latent phase for a good week or so. When I got home I had a bloody show. My contractions have been considerably more painful since the sweep, but the intervals were initially every 5/6 minutes and seem to be moving to every 6/7 minutes-ish now. But I am starting to struggle with the pain whilst in the midst of them.

I am very tired as I only managed about 4 hours sleep last night and have been awake since about 4am. Also vomited a few times in the morning and have diarrhea and nausea so feel generally grim, and I can't sleep due to the pain of the contractions.

Any advice? I'm terrified I'm going to be stuck like this for days on end . The MW at the antenatal classes said to try and rest whilst labouring at home before you come in but if I was more active would that speed things up? DH suggested a warm bath, but could that actually slow things down?! Tbh at this point I don't even care if the contractions peter out entirely and come back in a few days time, I just don't want to be stuck with this much pain and unable to sleep for days! Have taken paracetamol but don't think it did anything and am using TENS machine since about 8am.

To be honest it sounds to me like things are moving, even though your contractions are more spaced out. In my experience the diarrhoea/vomiting is a good sign. All I would say is rest as much as you can. A warm bath is a good idea as it helps with the pain and you may be able to nap afterwards. Other than that, keep moving but don't tire yourself out. Once it's really started there's bugger all you can do to speed it up or slow it down, your body knows what it's doing! Good luck!

Blerghhh. Had a lay down for an hour and contractions slowed again to every 10 minutes or so. Now up again and they are wavering between 4 and 7 minute intervals but the pain of them is getting worse. Why are they getting more painful but less frequent than they were this morning?! So frustrating.

Ohh that happened to my friend it went on for 4 days and she was repeatedly sent home from the hospital!! They started out like cramps and she was having her bloody show and they soon turned into contractions that were irregular but painful but they did at one point get to every 3 mins for over an hour so she went to hospital to be told they were nowhere near strong enough and she was 3cm! I think it was 2 days after that she said they went to 10mins but very painful then at 9mins apart she went to hospital because she was so exhausted and hadn’t slept for ate for 3 days and needed pain relief. Her baby was born the next day.
It’s so odd isn’t it! Iv been on and off cramps and tightening for 7 days now and loosing my mucus plug but they never get painful, and I always believed when labour started it just started, Iv no idea what is going on my midwife says they could be Braxton Hicks but everything says braxton Hicks are irregular and these are perfectly regular for hours and hours then stop!
Sorry thought Iv no idea how to speed it up, we have tried a lot of sex and walking but it’s not helping. Going baby shopping today for more clothes so maybe that will release some motherly hormones or something lol

Any sigh of baby yet Emz? I eventually went into hospital around 10.30pm that day due to the pain but was deemed not to be in active labour as was only 3cm then, I was left alone with no pain relief other than paracetamol and codeine until I was re-examined around 4am by which time I was 8cm and it turned out I had to be moved to delivery suite for continuous monitoring because the MW had booked me a growth scan - she never mentioned this meant I couldn't give birth on MLU. I got diamorphine around 4am - offered gas & air but I couldn't use it, every time I tried I would vomit. Pushed for around an hour 8-9am and it just wasn't happening, I think I was too exhausted from having no sleep in around 28 hours and being in pain all day and being left in such awful pain until I was 8cm, so I had to have a ventouse delivery and baby came out around 9.30am. I am in so much pain from it still and definitely a bit traumatised, I keep having flash backs .

On the plus side, my baby is absolutely beautiful and perfectly healthy. It deffo puts me off the thought of having another though in future.

Congratulations OP! Sorry the birth was difficult for you, many hospitals have midwife advocates, you can ask to go through your notes and understand why things happened, if you think this might help you.